Warmth swelled through him. “Good.” His man was coming home with him tonight. “Are you just about done here?”
Demitri shook his head. “I still have a few chores. Maybe, twenty minutes?”
“Okay,” Kiernan said. “I’ll pull the truck around back.”
Unable to resist any longer, Kiernan leaned down and gave his man a soft butterfly kiss. “I’ll see you in a few.”
After Kiernan released Demitri and watched him walk back into the building, he headed around to his truck. As he moved the vehicle, then waited for Demitri, he made a point of not thinking about how he’d mentally called Demitri his man, or how much he liked the sound of that.
Chapter Five
Demitri couldn’t help but feel nervous. He’d never not gone home before and just the idea of defying his father even more by doing this sent a spike of apprehension through him. Of course, since he’d planned to walk to Frankie’s house and then contact his alpha anyway, did it matter? He was still going to defy his father.
The man had backhanded him a time or two when he’d misbehaved, but he’d never done anything like this. Demitri wasn’t stupid. He knew what Cooper had done was wrong.
He had no intention of tolerating it, even if that meant bumming a room from his friends for a couple weeks while finding a place to live.
A large calloused hand sliding over his own to grip his fingers pulled Demitri out of his panicked thoughts. “Hey, you doing okay?”
No! “Y-yeah.”
Kiernan’s brows furrowed as he eyed Demitri, but finally he nodded. “We’re here. Let’s head in and I’ll take a look at those bruises. Make sure everything is healing okay.”
Demitri stared through the windshield at the large, bungalow style cottage that made up so many of the homes in the area. “Oh,” he mumbled. He hadn’t even realized they’d stopped. Gods, I’m tired.
When Kiernan released his hand, Demitri immediately missed the contact and swallowed a whimper. When had he become so needy? He didn’t want his mate to think he was some blubbering idiot. Clenching his jaw, he pushed the door open, trying to ignore the pain that stabbed through his torso.
He might be a shifter with accelerated healing, but his father had worked him over pretty good. The bat to the head had made Demitri pass out for a time, but then he’d woken to find himself tied to his bed. As soon as Cooper realized he’d woken, his father had started whipping him. Demitri had never felt anything so painful and had tried to scream for help around the gag in his mouth. It hadn’t worked, and he’d soon passed back out.
When he’d left for work that afternoon, Cooper had warned him to come straight home or he’d get more of the same. Like that’s a big incentive to obey him.
Suddenly, Kiernan was there. His mate slipped an arm around his shoulders, encouraging him to lean against him.
“Come on. You’re dead on your feet,” Kiernan murmured.
“Let’s get you taken care of.”
Exhaustion settled over Demitri like a cloak, heavy and stifling. Demitri stumbled, even with Kiernan’s support.
“Easy, darling,” Kiernan crooned. “I gotcha.”
“That’d be nice,” he muttered. He really was ready to conk out. “I wanted to call in sick, but I was afraid to stay home.” Shit did he just admit that out loud?
“I’m glad you got out of there,” Kiernan responded gently.
“Tired,” he mumbled absently.
He barely registered the click of the locks as Kiernan opened the door and he was too busy struggling to stay awake to notice much of the home. The best he could do was focus on placing one foot in front of the other, especially when Kiernan led him up a flight of stairs. “Sit here,” Kiernan commanded. “I’ll be right back.”
Demitri found himself deposited on a toilet. He hissed as his ass hit the unyielding plastic and he bounced back to his feet, all sense of fatigue gone as waves of pain rolled through his ass and thighs. Grabbing the towel bar, he waited for the pain to pass. He’d managed to avoid sitting while at work, leaning against the wall during his break. Even the truck ride hadn’t been that bad, since the seat had been nicely cushioned.
“Demitri?”
He turned to see a concerned, questioning look on Kiernan’s face. “Hurts,” he admitted.
Kiernan laid the sweats he carried on the counter, then crossed to him. “Let’s take a look.” As he carefully helped Demitri out of his shirt, he teased, “This certainly wasn’t how I wanted to undress you for the first time.”
A smile flickered across Demitri’s face as he shrugged the button-down shirt off his shoulders. Kiernan wants me. When Kiernan unbuttoned Demitri’s fly, the back of his hand brushed against his dick. The light contact, combined with the close proximity of his mate—flooding Demitri’s senses with Kiernan’s scent—caused his dick to thicken.
As soon as Kiernan lowered his zipper, his cock sprang free.
“Commando, darling?” Kiernan commented.
Demitri flushed. He was like a lot of shifters, skipping that particular garment. Not that he could tell his mate that, yet.
Soft lips pressed against Demitri’s, surprising him into gasping. Kiernan slipped his tongue into his mouth, teasing and tasting. He kept the kiss light, the tongue play setting Demitri’s nerves tingling. The kiss relaxed him, easing his body’s pain.
When Kiernan ended the kiss, Demitri sagged against the bigger man. He clutched his mate’s shirt and panted. His dick flexed and he rocked his hips forward, rubbing against Kiernan’s thigh, the rough fabric feeling amazing against his sensitive shaft.
“Demitri,” Kiernan growled, a warning in his tone.
Mewling, Demitri clung to him, his body on fire as he fought the urge to continue rutting against his mate.
“Please,” he whimpered.
“Shit, hold on,” Kiernan responded. “I’ll take care of you, Dee.”
Keeping one arm wrapped around his shoulders, Kiernan reached around him, turned on the water, and quickly adjusted the temperature. He returned his focus to Demitri, helped him out of his pants, then gently lifted his t-shirt
